Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation hits theaters this week, and it’s already been earning crazy good reviews for the latest installment in Tom Cruise’s action-packed franchise. There’s plenty to love in the sequel, in which Cruise continues to fully dedicate himself to some insane stunts. But as with most films, there were some pretty awesome scenes that hit the cutting room floor due to time, like this 10-minute scene with Alec Baldwin described by director Christopher McQuarrie.

In Rogue Nation, Simon Pegg’s Benji Dunn is thrilled when he has the chance to finally wear one of those very realistic face-masks that have been a big part of the franchise since the beginning. Unfortunately, the machine that makes them breaks down and he’s left disappointed.

During his press rounds in New York, McQuarrie revealed to ScreenRant that Benji was actually supposed to wear a mask in the film, but he ultimately had to cut the scene:

In the ten-minute chunk of the movie that we cut out, [Benji got to wear a mask]. And he shows up very unexpectedly. It was really richly rewarding. He showed up as Alec Baldwin [playing CIA chief Alan Hunley, who wants to disband the IMF]. And it was this really fun moment, and he pulls off an Alec Baldwin mask as Benji, and you’re like, ‘Fuck!’ And that’s how they escaped from Alec Baldwin.

And you cut back to the embassy and you see Alec and everybody come out of the embassy and leave, and then you see Alec Baldwin come out of the embassy alone, and you’re like, ‘Did I just miss a reel or what’s happening?’ Alec Baldwin realizes it before you do, and you cut back to the car and Benji pulls off the Alec Baldwin mask and then reaches under his sleeve and pulls this tab and his Alec Baldwin bodysuit deflates, cause he’s so much bigger than Simon.

McQuarrie goes on to describe the Grade A performance they got out of Baldwin that day — since those masks aren’t real, Baldwin had to act as Benji acting as Hunley:

It’s Alec Baldwin at his absolute finest. He’s so good in this scene. It’s Alec taking a monologue and just chewing it with his back teeth and just loving every minute of it. He has great zingers, and it’s Tom Cruise just being torn apart by Alec Baldwin. And Tom — I said, ‘I’m sorry, does this feel weird, that you don’t have anything to do in this scene?’ And Tom goes, ‘I got a front-row seat, man. This is like the greatest.’ He’s just sitting there in handcuffs with Alec Baldwin just destroying him.

Sadly, McQuarrie explains that the scene just added too much on top of a film that already has a lot of excitement going on, so they ultimately cut it. Perhaps we’ll get to see this wonderful scene on the DVD and Blu-ray release.

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